Deb cranked up First Light yesterday morning and with the help of good friends we have made here in Oriental, moved the boat about a half mile under the bridge and to a new marina. This one has floating docks so, once First Light was securely tied starboard side-to, I could get onboard using just one arm. Though less than a half mile away from the old slip, at the new one the boat rests an entirely different environment. Further from the bridge and around a bit of a corner into a small feeder creek, it is much quieter with very little fetch. The boat barely moves. All in all it is about as perfect a place to recover from the events of the last couple of days that one can imagine.
I was standing on the new dock as Deb pulled the boat in. There was no hint that this was her first time at the helm of a twin-engined trawler. Friends handled lines and helped her set fenders while I, under strict orders not to do anything dumb that would compromise my new accessory's install, didn't touch a thing. Though the boat is available, we will spend a couple of days in a hotel close to the hospital, just in case. After that, we will move back onto the boat, enjoy Oriental, and head off when this beat up old bod of mine is up to the task.
Our plans to do the Northern half of the Great Loop to St. Louis this year have, obviously, been derailed. It will be a couple of months before I can safely travel by boat as my left arm is, for all practical purposes, inoperable. The pacemaker is lodged between the muscle and skin that makes that arm go. It is vital that scar tissue forms around it and the electrical leads now imbedded in the heart muscles before I start using it for much more than scratching my nose. So I am recuperating in one of the prettiest places I have ever found in US waters. In a couple of months we will head off with the intent of taking one of the slowest passages up the ICW ever, landing in the north end of the Chesapeake Bay in the fall and putting First Light on the hard for the winter. Come spring we will pick up our journey, ending up in St. Louis sometime next year.
Messages, texts, emails, and phone calls have flooded in as news of the little episode spread, and I am deeply touched by all of the good thoughts and expressions of support. A life filled with good people is a good life. Mine is a really, really good life.
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| At least I can still play ukulele with the left hand! |
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| Sunrise from the hotel this morning |
4 comments:
Well I got busy working (I know, the "W"-word!) and got behind on the story, but clearly you've had an interesting couple of weeks, Tim! Best wishes and smooth healing to you. Sionna launches on the 25th.
Thanks for the good wishes. Healing is going surprisingly well though I will be doing virtually no work on the boat for a while. Which will be kind of a novelty. I don't think I've ever spent even two weeks on a boat without working on it. Two months? But I can barely pick up an iPad with my left arm without feeling it. Any work needing done on First Light in the foreseeable future will either be done by Deb or contracted out. Congrats on the launch. Getting back on the water is always a big day.
Happy healing Tim. I'm looking forward to seeing the "boat & dock life" where you are located now. Pictures taken through your eyes and share on line... a good thing I enjoy with advanced technology. Thinking maybe after you get healed up some we might take a road trip for a visit some weeks away. Check out that back deck of yours while sip'n on a glass of wine watching boat life in your neighborhood sounds like an interesting few days. It'll definitely be as close as I ever get to "sea boating". LOL, but true facts.
Kathy, that would be fun. I have my first post-op check up in a couple of days. After that we may take a week and visit St. Louis. No matter what it looks like we will be here until after July 4th. Plans are a little up-in-the-air as you can imagine. But you would like this place.
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